The Fate of BrambleClan
by Froststar
Summary: A journey through the life of a BrambleClan warrior. As BrambleClan suffers, dies, and lives, what will their fate be?


Chapter 1

Daisyleaf's orange tabby kit slowly opened his eyes, his ears picking up the squealing sounds of other kits in the BrambleClan nursery. "He's opened his eyes!" his mother meowed. He looked up. My, was his mother pretty! Her shiny black pelt was like a gem. She had blue eyes, but they were dull with exhaustion. "Mother?" the small kit mewed. "Welcome, dear," she purred, "to BrambleClan." "What's my name? What do I look like? What's your name? Who are my siblings?" A thousand questions flew out of the tiny mouth of the kit. "I will name you.." his mother began. She thought for a moment. "You'll be an excellent warrior of BrambleClan. Your name," she paused for a moment, then meowed loudly, "shall be Bramblekit!" Bramblekit was proud. He had the Clan's name! His mother continued, "I am Daisyleaf. You look just like your father, Windberry." Bramblekit tilted his head and looked down his back. "Is he orange too?" Daisyleaf nodded. "You have my eyes." Bramblekit was happy. His mother's blue eyes belonged to him too! The twinkling color of Daisyleaf's eyes began to light up. Bramblekit looked around the nursery. Lots of kits mewed and purred. Daisyleaf interrupted his looking around. "Your sisters and Dewkit and Flowerkit." Bramblekit saw two black kits nuzzling his mother. "Are you Dewkit?" he said to one of them. The kit glanced at him and said, "She's Dewkit." She flicked her tiny tail at the young cat next to her. "I'm Flowerkit. Who are you?" Bramblekit purred. "I'm Bramblekit," he mewed, "I'm your brother." Dewkit stepped over Flowerkit and studied Bramblekit. "You don't _look _like my brother, and you sure don't look like Daisyleaf's kit!" she scoffed. "B-b-but," Bramblekit stuttered, "D-Daisyleaf said I looked like f-f-father!" "You're gonna be an awesome warrior someday," Flowerkit interrupted. "You have strong!" "Flowerkit, 'you have strong' is grammatically incorrect." "Whatever, Dewkit." The two sisters bugged each other until Daisyleaf pushed them off of her belly. "Go outside. Maybe some of the other kits want to play!" Bramblekit was so excited! "Outside? Like, really, outside of the nursery?" Daisyleaf nodded and nudged them towards the small opening in the wall. Dewkit bounced past Flowerkit and Bramblekit and through the hole in the wall. Bramblekit followed, Flowerkit at his tail. Bramblekit climbed outside and breathed in the fresh air. _Wow, _he thought. The breeze was cold and crisp. It was eye-opening. His eyes were racing around the camp when he saw a brown tabby cat. "She looks like an apprentice," he whispered to Flowerkit. "Look, Goldkit! Little kits!" the she-cat squealed. A black and white cat stepped out of the bushes. "Where?" he asked. The tabby ran towards Flowerkit and Bramblekit. "Hi!" she said. "Are you new here?" Flowerkit stepped in front of Bramblekit. "Yup. New to the world, too! We're Daisyleaf's kits! Are you apprentices?" "Welcome to BrambleClan! Your mother is so pretty – I see where you got your nice fur and eyes," the tabby complimented. "We're almost apprentices. We're 5 moons old – only another moon and we'll be moving in with Splotchpaw, Moonpaw, and Dovepaw!" "But who are you?" Flowerkit repeated. "What are your names?" She fixed her gaze on the tuxedo. "Oh, that," the tabby mewed. "I'm Jadekit. This is my brother, Goldkit." Bramblekit looked around the clearing, but didn't see his other sister. _Where's Dewkit? _he thought. "Deeeeewkit!" he called. Dewkit didn't come. Bramblekit yelled again. He padded through the dust, worrying about his sister. "Dewkit?" He peered around a tree. "Ow!"A rock hit him on the head. He looked up into the tree it fell from. "You wimp." A black kit sat in a high branch. "Dewkit! What was that for?" Bramblekit growled. Dewkit only laughed. "Are you stuck?" Bramblekit asked his sister. "No!" Dewkit yelled. "I can get down by myself! Go away!" Bramblekit shrugged and walked away. He saw Goldkit talking to Flowerkit. "Goldkit! Flowerkit!" Goldkit looked over at Bramblekit. "Hi Bramblekit," he sighed. "Goldkit! Goldkit! Where's the leader?" Bramblekit asked. "Oh, Jaystar? He's probably in his den," Goldkit replied. "Where's the apprentice den?" Bramblekit meowed. Goldkit pointed his muzzle back into the bushes. Bramblekit followed Goldkit's directions. A large pile of rocks, bramble, and moss with an opening like the one in the nursery was there. Bramblekit peeked inside. "Are you guys apprentices?" he questioned nervously. The cats were a lot bigger than Goldkit and Jadekit, and not just by a few moons. "Get out of the warrior's den, you rat!" a gray cat screeched. A smaller tortoiseshell nudged him and purred, "Crackedmoon, be nice to kits." Bramblekit shook with fear. "Sorry," he whimpered. The tortoiseshell walked over to the den opening where Bramblekit stood. "It's okay," she assured. "I'm Fernpuddle." "H-hi Fernpuddle," Bramblekit said. Fernpuddle offered to take him around the camp. Bramblekit agreed. "These are the warriors. That's Crackedmoon." She looked at the gray warrior who yelled at Bramblekit. "I think he's going to retire soon," she whispered in Bramblekit's ear. Crackedmoon's muzzle was silvery dusty gray with white flakes. It looked like – well, just that – a cracked moon. "That white she-cat with a dark spot on her forehead is Grayspot." "She's pretty," Bramblekit said to himself. Fernpuddle rubbed her head on the side of the den and continued.

A few minutes later, Bramblekit knew all the warriors. Fernpuddle, Crackedmoon, Grayspot, Nettlestream, Snowmuzzle, Darkheart, Windberry (who he knew of already, since that was his father, but hadn't met), and Beetail. "Next, the apprentices," Fernpuddle purred. She stepped through some tall grass, Bramblekit at her side. "Do you know the apprentices' names?" she asked. "Um, Spottypaw, Sunpaw, and, er, Birdpaw?" Fernpuddle laughed at Bramblekit's answer. "Close," she giggled. "Splotchpaw, Moonpaw, and Dovepaw." Bramblekit heard lots of meowing and laughing coming from a small cave behind a tree. "Is that the apprentices' den?" he guessed. Fernpuddle nodded and stepped in front of the cave. She meowed loudly to silence the pre-warriors. A small white cat glanced out of the den. "Kits!" she mewed excitedly. A tortoiseshell that looked like a mini Fernpuddle stepped up next to her. Another white apprentice crept up next to them. "I'm not a kit!" Bramblekit hissed. "Yes you are, Bramblekit," Fernpuddle said.

"Not for long, I won't be!"

"Bramblekit. You're not even half a moon old yet."

"Why does that matter? I'll be as big as those guys in no time!"

"You have to be six moons old to be an apprentice."

"Why?!"

"It's the warrior code."

One of the white apprentices stopped their discussion. "Hi Bramblekit," she meowed. "Don't worry, you'll move in with us before you realize it! I'm Dovepaw." The other white cat continued, "I'm her sister, Moonpaw. I can't wait till you can be an apprentice – but we'll be warriors by then." Bramblekit looked at Moonpaw. "How old are you?" he asked. Moonpaw replied, "We've been training for only 1 moon. We're 7 moons old." "How long do apprentices train for?" Bramblekit wondered aloud. "Till we're 12 moons old. We'll be warriors for about a moon when you're an apprentice – but you can ask us anything about training at that time! But Splotchpaw will still be here – right Splotch?" The tortoiseshell apprentice's eyes went from dull to bright. "Huh? Oh, me. Umm... let's see, I'm.. yeah, 6 moons, uh-huh, 7... 12... um.. half-moon..." "Splotchpaw!" Dovepaw screamed. "Oh! Um, yeah, I'll be here." Bramblekit rolled his eyes. "You have a short attention span, don't you." "What? Me? I don't – hey look, a mouse!" Bramblekit forced himself not to laugh at sprung around. Sure enough, there was a furry gray creature fumbling around in the leaves. Bramblekit crouched down, not having to worry about his short kit tail. He stepped slowly across the ground, only a few pawsteps away from that tasty mouse. The mouse stood still for just a moment and Bramblekit sprang forwards, sinking his jaws into it. He clawed its back and kicked it with his back paws. He held it up to show the other cats and said proudly, "My first catch!" Fernpuddle, Dovepaw, and Moonpaw stared at Bramblekit in shock. Splotchpaw was fiddling with her toes. "Splotchpaw, look what Bramblekit did!" Moonpaw nudged her friend with her shoulder. "Oi!" Splotchpaw squealed. "Now.. um.. yeah, what?" "Bramblekit caught that mouse you saw!" Moonpaw mewed happily. Splotchpaw looked around frantically. "Fernpuddle!" she purred. Fernpuddle had her eyes fixed on Bramblekit. "Our attention belongs to our wonderful new kit," she said quietly. "Is that Bramblekit?" Splotchpaw asked. "Well yeah! Yeah I'm Bramblekit!" Bramblekit's meow was muffled, since he was still holding his prey in his teeth. "What were we saying?" Splotchpaw mewled. "Bramblekit killed the mouse," Dovepaw reminded her. "Oh dear, you w-w-weren't s-supposed to k-k-k-kill m-my m-m-mouse!" Splotchpaw sniffled. "_Your _mouse? This is hardly Jaystar's mouse, much less _yours!_" Bramlekit hissed, placing the mouse on the ground. Fernpuddle purred and licked Bramblekit's head. "Can I eat the mouse now?" Bramblekit asked with his mouth watering. Fernpuddle tilted her head and stared at him with wide concered eyes. Bramblekit repeated, "....can I?" Fernpuddle's tail twiched. She shook her head slowly. "Bring it back to the camp," she whispered. "Jaystar is waiting." She looked down at the ground. She turned and looked at Bramblekit. "Go. Now.. Jaystar is waiting.." Bramblekit picked up the mouse and hurried away.

"Jaystar!" Bramblekit called out, standing in front of the leader's den. Moss hung over the entrance to the small cave-ish den. _His den looks important, _Bramblekit thought. "Jaystar?" He heard a rustling inside the den. "Jaystar!" a dark gray tabby meowed happily, stepping out of the leader's den. "Hi.. a-a-are you J-Jaystar?" Bramblekit asked nervously. The tabby purred and said, "Yes, I'm Jaystar! Are you one of the new kits?" Bramblekit nodded. "I'm Bramblekit. I'm Daisyleaf's kit, and my sisters are Dewk--" "I know," Jaystar said. "What did you want to say to me?" Bramblekit nudged the mouse, which he had at his paws. "I.. I caught this," he announced. Jaystar's eyes widened. "No you didn't," he said shockingly. "Yes he did," a voice said behind Bramblekit. Bramblekit swung around, to see Moonpaw standing there. "You got here fast," he purred. "I'm very proud of you, Bramblekit. _Very _proud," Jaystar mewed. "Here, let Moonpaw show you the fresh-kill pile." Moonpaw walked towards a large den next to the nursery, Bramblekit following at her side. There was a pile of prey in front of the den. "Who's den is that?" Bramblekit asked. Moonpaw slowed down and sighed, "Moonbreeze's. I think I was named after her – she's the medicine cat. She's really nice – she helped me when I had whitecough." Bramblekit started asking a bunch of questions about being an apprentice. "Who's your mentor?" "Beetail. It's awful, he's the dumbest cat I know! Even you know more than him about hunting and battle moves!" Bramblekit purred with amusement. "Moonpaw," he mewed quietly, "Who's your mother?" Moonpaw stopped and sat down. "Don't talk to me about Mintspot." "Mintspot? She wasn't in the warriors den. Does she have more kits?" Moonpaw shook her head. "Oh no, Moonpaw.." Bramblekit suddenly got worried. "Don't tell me she's.." Moonpaw nodded sadly. "Gone," she cried. "Oh, Moonpaw, I'm so sorry," meowed Bramblekit sympathetically. "Well, here's the fresh-kill pile," the white apprentice sighed, changing the subject. Bramblekit trotted over to the pile and dropped his mouse. "I had better go find Dewkit. I hope she's gotten down from the tree alright." He ran towards the bushes where Dewkit had hidden in a tree. "Dewkit, are you alright?" He then recognized a voice. It had to be Dewkit's. "Of course I'm OK, you mouse-brained idiot! Do you think I'm just a pretty little kittypet, having to be cared of others?" she snarled. Bramblekit couldn't see her, but just as he realized she wasn't in the tree anymore she leaped out of the bushes and tumbled into him. "How did you get down?" he asked, staring up the trunk of the nearly branchless tree. He expected Dewkit to think that was a dumb question, and he was right. "You're just a stupid furball! I don't see why Daisyleaf and Flowerkit think you're going to be a great warrior someday, with all your dumbness! You know what, Bramblekit? I think Jaystar should banish you from BrambleClan. You have no right to be a warrior and give orders that don't make any sense and just get us killed. _I _think you shouldn't just be banished from BrambleClan. I think you should go to a different Clan. You know which Clan I have in mind?" Bramblekit winced at Dewkit's harsh words, but stayed silent. "Do you, Bramblekit?" his sister growled. Bramblekit shook his head and Dewkit hissed, "Are you mouse-brained? The Clan I think you should go to is _obviously_..." She lashed her tail around, giving Bramblekit a hostile glance. "_StarClan!"_ she yowled at the sky. She revealed her claws, her eyes fiery. Bramblekit's snarling, bloodthirsty-looking sister meant it when she said he should go to StarClan.


End file.
